


falling in love is for idiots

by toumei



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Deathstar, First Kiss, M/M, awkward staring, baby's first crush, black star is a dummy, corny shit, kid is straightforward, tsubaki is the voice of reason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25852933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toumei/pseuds/toumei
Summary: Black☆Star can't stop looking at Kid. He doesn't know why, exactly, but he does know that it's a fact.He can pinpoint when it starts. When it ends, well, not so much. Because it hasn't. It's still going on, and Black☆Star has no idea what to do about it.
Relationships: Black Star & Death the Kid, Black Star/Death the Kid
Comments: 15
Kudos: 230





	falling in love is for idiots

**Author's Note:**

> Oh look, it's my annual post
> 
> Real talk tho, despite being my otp for literal years, and despite the fact that I've probably written over 50k words worth of fic for them over those years, I've never actually posted anything for these two. This negligence ends now 
> 
> I have other soul eater fics I want to finish and post sometime in the (hopefully near) future. I'm talking oneshots, chapter fics, smut, fluff, angst -- the works
> 
> We shall see

Black☆Star can’t stop looking at Kid. He doesn’t know why, exactly, but he does know that it’s a fact.

He can pinpoint when it starts. It’s one day in class, a day where Liz has elected to sit beside Tsubaki, and therefore Patty and Kid tag along. It’s supposed to be a normal day. Nothing out of the ordinary is meant to happen. But of course, because this is Black☆Star’s life, things don’t go that way. 

The lecture is boring, as lectures often are to him, and so instead of listening to whatever’s being taught, he occupies himself with looking around the room. He starts with his tried-and-trues — he glances at Maka, who’s eagerly taking notes, and Soul, who’s watching her scribble away with obvious affection in his eyes. Black☆Star blinks, unimpressed. Soul is such a sap; falling in love is for idiots. But it _is_ entertaining to watch from afar. 

Next, he looks to Kim and Jackie. They’re always a sight to behold, trying to pretend they aren’t holding hands beneath the desk, and today is no different — in fact, today they’re sitting so close to one another that Jackie is practically in Kim’s lap. A grimace crosses Black☆Star’s lips. Romance is so _gross._ He’s not sure why people waste their time on it. 

Up next is Kilik, who catches Black☆Star’s glance and grins back at him, shooting a thumbs-up his way. Black☆Star returns the gesture before moving on to Ox, who is scrawling notes even more furiously than Maka, his hand practically a blur as he writes with unrelenting ferocity. Meanwhile, Harvar sits beside him, possibly asleep. Black☆Star can never tell what’s going down behind those bizarre glasses he’s always wearing. 

Black☆Star’s gaze is wandering over to the weird guy who sits in the back when his eyes catch on Kid. The shinigami is leaning forward, one of his elbows on the desk, his hand on his cheek as he props his chin lazily on his palm. He has a textbook in front of him, open to a page that definitely has nothing to do with what’s being taught, but it doesn’t really matter, because Kid very obviously isn’t reading it. Instead he’s looking towards the front, eyes bored and mind clearly somewhere else. It almost looks as though he’s beginning to fall asleep. 

Black☆Star watches Kid’s eyes close and reopen in a slow blink, and then repeat the action, even more sluggishly. Yeah, he’s _definitely_ falling asleep, and that makes Black☆Star snicker silently to himself. Straight-A student Death the Kid, falling asleep in class. This is golden.

Kid’s head then starts to loll, chin beginning to slip from its perch on his hand as he starts to doze off, eyes closing once again. Black☆Star watches, enraptured, as his head falls forward, slipping from his palm entirely. It only takes a moment for Kid to catch himself, sitting back up and blinking rapidly. A second later, he yawns, gingerly covering his mouth with the back of his hand, one of his eyes pinching closed. 

And, subsequently, something weird tightens and sinks into Black☆Star’s chest. 

So, yeah. He can pinpoint exactly when it starts. When it ends, well, not so much. Because it hasn’t. It’s still going on, and Black☆Star has no idea what to do about it.

The first time he realizes he’s staring is during a game of basketball. It’s a two-v-two, himself and Patty comprising one team, Soul and Tsubaki making up the other. Maka has refused to participate, as usual, but Black☆Star is sure that by the end of the day she’ll be up and playing with the rest of them. Liz and Kid are playing a card game on the bench, and that’s where the trouble starts for Black☆Star. 

See, if Kid were part of the game, Black☆Star would have no problem focusing on the task at hand, because there wouldn’t be an outside distraction. The distraction would have been in-game, and if a distraction is part of something you’re supposed to be doing, it doesn’t qualify as a distraction. But, Kid isn’t part of the game, and therein lies the problem. 

Black☆Star passes the ball to Patty, a grin on his face as he moves to get open again. He turns to look at the bench, intending to shout at Maka — for the third time, to really let her know — just how much she’s missing out, but his words die in his throat when his gaze accidentally falls on Kid, sitting beside her.

Kid is sitting crosslegged on the bench, peering intently at the cards in his hand, brows drawn in focus. His free hand is resting gently on his chin, something he often does when he’s thinking. 

But for some reason, this time it hits different, and Black☆Star’s heart does a weird thing in his chest. 

Even from a distance, Black☆Star can see how perfect Kid’s fingers are, bent just-so against the tip of his chin. Long and slender, nails immaculately manicured, twin stainless-steel rings donning each middle finger. Kid’s hands look like they’d be soft if Black☆Star were to hold them, to slot their fingers together. It’s odd; why is he noticing this now? Why is he even _thinking_ about all of this now? When he’s in the middle of a —

“Black☆Star!” 

Remembering the basketball game he’s currently a part of, he whips around, looking for whoever has called his name. Shit, he’d been — 

— The moment he turns, the ball slams him square in the face, hard rubber colliding directly with his nose. Reflexive tears spring into his eyes, and he staggers backwards, clasping his hand over his face. 

“Fuck!” he shouts, holding his nose. “Damnit!” It hurts, obviously — his entire face stings, his nose the epicenter of the pain radiating outwards into his cheeks. He squeezes his eyes closed, trying to blink the involuntary tears away. 

“Black☆Star! Are you okay?” Tsubaki’s worried voice comes from his right, and he nods jerkily, still cupping his face. Fuck, that smarts. It smarts _bad._ It’s not the first time he’s taken a blow directly to the nose, but he always manages to forget just how much it hurts until the next time it happens.

“Dude! What’re you doing?!” He hears Soul yell at him, from about the same spot as Tsubaki. When Black☆Star looks over at him, eyes still watering from the impact, he sees his brows furrowed in irritation. 

“Huh?” he replies intelligently, voice muffled slightly by his hand. He’s still reeling from the collision; his head is spinning just a bit. 

“The game!” Soul puts his hands on his hips. “You’re not paying attention at all, that’s why you got whacked.” 

“Oh.” Black☆Star pauses momentarily. “Uh, sorry.” 

“You’re just staring off into space,” Soul continues. “What were you even looking at, anyway?” 

Black☆Star glances around the group, all the members of which have migrated over to see what the commotion is about. His eyes land on Kid, who’s watching him with his head cocked slightly to the side, mild concern in his eyes. Wow. Kid has nice eyes, Black☆Star realizes suddenly. 

“Uh, nothing,” he fumbles for something to say, reluctantly pulling his gaze from Kid’s face. “I just, um, zoned out.”

In actuality, he knows _exactly_ what he’d been looking at. But there’s no way in hell he’s going to admit it aloud.

The next time he catches himself staring is during lunch, a few days after the basketball incident. 

Kid is sitting across from him, talking to Liz about an upcoming mission, and Black☆Star is just. Watching him, entranced. By what, he’s not sure. Maybe it’s the gentle slope of Kid’s nose, or the dual-toned goldenrod color of his eyes, or the strange, but pretty, trio of white lines in his hair, which Black☆Star still doesn’t know what they are or why they’re there. Maybe all three. 

“Hey, Kid,” he says, his mouth moving without him telling it to do so, effectively interrupting Kid and Liz’s conversation. Kid’s open mouth closes, and he turns his head to face Black☆Star, one perfect eyebrow cocked inquisitively.

“Yes?” he replies, and Black☆Star’s eyes fall to his mouth as he watches the way his lips curve over the word. Oh. Wow. Just like everything else physical about him, Kid’s lips are perfect. Thin and peach-colored, a noticeable dip right beneath his cupid’s bow, pulled into a quizzical little frown. Black☆Star swallows thickly.

What had he been about to say? He’s already forgotten. Suddenly, all he can focus on is Kid’s face — the placement of his cheekbones, the smoothness of his skin, the curve of his jaw, steadily becoming sharper and more angular as he ages. The pointed tip of his nose. The long lashes surrounding his piercing eyes. Does Kid wear makeup? It looks like he might have mascara on. It looks good on him, and — 

“Black☆Star?” Kid prompts, and Black☆Star blinks out of his reverie. Shit. He’d been zoning out again, just like the other day. 

“Yeah?” he responds, watching as Kid’s eyebrows, those perfect eyebrows, furrow in what looks like concern. 

“Were you going to say something?” Kid asks, cocking his head just slightly to the side. That’s cute. Why is that so cute? Other people do that too, but with Kid, the simple gesture makes his stomach flutter. Tearing his eyes away from Kid’s face, he looks down at his lunch. 

“Uh, I forgot,” he mumbles before taking a hasty bite of rice. It’s not a lie, but for some reason, it feels like one.

After that, Black☆Star notices himself staring embarrassingly often. During class, in which he often elects to sit behind Kid, so he can stare at the back of his head without any consequences. During group training, where he’s taken multiple unnecessary hits that he could have easily dodged had he been able to focus. During hangouts, accidentally letting himself lose at games because he’s unable to keep his eyes from wandering over to Kid. 

Basically, any time Kid is around, Black☆Star is looking at him. 

That weird tightness he’d first felt that day in class has begun to fill his chest any time he so much as thinks about Kid, which is becoming a much more frequent occurrence, and thus that feeling is quickly growing into a familiar one. But it’s not really a bad feeling, if he’s being honest. It feels strange, but it doesn’t feel _bad._

It takes him several days — almost a week, in fact — and some help from Tsubaki, but he figures out what the feeling is, figures out why he can’t stop looking at Kid. It’s embarrassing, and it’s awkward, but he knows what it is, and that has to count for something, right? 

“Can I tell you what I really think?” Tsubaki asks after he’s spilled his guts about everything that’s been going on. He nods, and she smiles softly. “I think you have a crush on him.”

Black☆Star gawks at her. Him? Having a _crush?_ Impossible. Romance is for idiots. That’s his philosophy, and he’s sticking by it. 

He understands where Tsubaki is coming from; like, he gets it. To an outsider, this might, _might,_ look like a crush. But it’s not. He’s only been looking at Kid so much because he finds him pretty, and acknowledging someone’s attractiveness doesn’t equal having a crush on them. 

And that weird tightness in his chest is just a result of that. Kid is pretty, and Black☆Star appreciates that. He appreciates it a lot. Maybe too much, but that’s neither here nor there. 

The jittery feeling he gets before seeing Kid? Excitement to see his friend. 

The fluttering in his stomach whenever he makes Kid laugh? Pride at being able to make such a stoic person crack a smile. 

The idea that he kind of wants to hold Kid’s hand? Well, that one’s a bit harder to explain, but holding hands doesn’t have to be romantic. 

The pondering over what Kid might smell like up close? Uh. Hmm. He’s not sure about that one. 

The fact that the other day he had been wondering what it would be like to kiss Kid’s forehead, his cheek, his knuckles, his lips, his — 

Oh. Oh, no. 

So, yeah. He realizes after almost a week, and with some help from Tsubaki, that he has a crush on Kid. A big, giddy, stupid, _idiot_ crush.

“What should I do?” he asks Tsubaki, face buried in his hands. 

“What do you _want_ to do?” she replies. He shakes his head. 

“I don’t know!” His face flushes, and he pulls his hands away. “I think I want to kiss him.” He pauses. Now that he thinks about it, actually, he’s changed his mind. He doesn’t think he wants to kiss Kid. He _knows_ he does. “Should I just do it?” he asks after a moment of pondering. 

“I’m not sure,” she says. “It’s a little bold.” 

“I‘m a bold person, Tsubaki!” he exclaims. She chuckles exasperatedly. 

“That’s true.”

He decides not to go with the kiss. Tsubaki convinces him that it’s a bit much, and that he should try something else first, to which he begrudgingly agrees. He’ll try something different. 

What he decides on is, in all honesty, corny as hell. But that’s not important. 

The next day in class, Black☆Star saunters up the steps to sit next to Kid, barely able to suppress an excited grin. He glances at Tsubaki, who’s sitting in the row behind him, and she gives him a subtle thumbs-up, a small smile on her face. He responds with a silent, determined nod, then slides into the seat beside Kid. 

A few minutes into the lecture, Black☆Star nudges Kid with his elbow. Time to shoot his shot.

“Hey,” he murmurs, keeping his voice down as to avoid being cursed out by the professor. Kid turns to look at him, with those piercing golden eyes, surrounded by those thick, definitely-mascara’d lashes, and he’s so gorgeous that Black☆Star almost loses his nerve for a moment. 

“What?” he whispers back. Black☆Star resists smiling. 

“Can you hold this for me?” he asks, and Kid cocks his head in that cute way that’s only cute when he does it. Not smiling suddenly becomes a much more difficult feat.

“Sure, what is it?” he replies, holding his hand out palm-up. 

Black☆Star doesn’t answer, just places his hand atop Kid’s, slotting their fingers snugly together, watching as Kid’s eyes widen and an aggressive flush rises on his cheeks, eyes transfixed on their joined hands beneath the desk. 

“O-Oh,” he stutters. His fingers twitch, but he doesn’t pull away. A few seconds later, he looks back at the front of the room, cheeks pink, an awkward — but not uncomfortable or disgusted — expression on his face. 

Score.

Black☆Star is the one to let go first, just a moment before class ends, and as he stands to leave, he takes a final glance at Kid. The reaper is staring at his own hand, now absent of Black☆Star’s, face adorably pink, just like it has been for the entirety of the lecture. Black☆Star can’t help but grin to himself as he bounds over to Tsubaki, who gives him a smile and a small high-five. 

Black☆Star feels his stomach drop a little when Tsubaki reminds him that the group is supposed to be heading over to Maka and Soul’s place after school. Oh. Well. He hopes he hasn’t made things awkward between himself and Kid, and he really hopes it doesn’t affect the rest of the group, because that’s not fair to them.

Whatever, though. He’ll just act normal and hope that Kid follows suit. It shouldn’t be hard at all. Hopefully. 

They’re in the middle of their group dinner when Black☆Star realizes he’s staring at Kid. Again. For what feels like the hundredth time this week, and honestly, probably is. 

Except, this time — as he’s admiring the way Kid’s bangs swoop down over his eyes and the way the hair at the base of his neck curls up adorably — Kid catches him. 

Their gazes lock, and Black☆Star feels every ounce of blood in his body rush to his face so quickly his head spins. Kid peers at him, curiosity in his criminally pretty eyes, and Black☆Star wishes, he _wishes,_ that he could look away. But he just can’t seem to pull his gaze from Kid’s.

They become locked in an awkward stalemate, staring at one another, Black☆Star’s eyes flitting around Kid’s face, taking in the same details he’s already noticed dozens of times before. He’s not sure what to do, exactly, because as the seconds tick by, the discomfort grows. At least, it does for Black☆Star. Kid’s expression is unwavering, his gaze steady, and Black☆Star doesn’t think he’d be able to read him even if he tried. Which, to be frank, he is. He’s really, really trying to get a read on the guy. 

He’s not sure how long they’ve been staring at each other — maybe a few seconds, maybe a few minutes — but it’s been a while, probably too long of a while. Fortunately, relief comes when Soul pipes up. 

“Are you two having a staring contest or something?” he asks, and Black☆Star is finally able to pull himself back to reality as he jolts in surprise, snapping his head away from Kid in order to look at Soul, who’s watching him with a bored sort of confusion on his face.

“S-Something like that,” Black☆Star sputters in response, rubbing the base of his neck as he feels some of the awkwardness subside.

Less than twenty minutes later, as Black☆Star is heading to the bathroom, Kid confronts him. The reaper steps in front of him, blocking him from the hallway, peering down at him steadily. 

“What?” Black☆Star asks simply, raising a brow up at Kid, hoping not to clue the other boy in to the nerves he worries might be obvious. 

“I want to talk to you,” Kid states, straightforward as always. “In private. After everyone leaves.” Black☆Star feels a sudden surge of anxiety rush through him the moment the words leave Kid’s mouth.

“Alright,” he forces out, praying he sounds much more casual than he feels. Kid doesn’t respond, just moves out of Black☆Star’s way, heading back towards the living room and taking a seat on the couch, leaving Black☆Star alone to panic to himself.

The rest of the night passes without incident, save for the handful of times Black☆Star finds himself watching Kid, and the several times Kid catches him. 

He’s nervous. Why is he so nervous? He doesn’t get nervous. It’s getting to the point where he’s beginning to feel nauseous, and he can barely focus on the flow of conversation or the video game the group has begun to play. He’s just trapped inside his head, going through the motions. 

What does Kid want to talk about? Actually, that’s a stupid question. Black☆Star is acutely aware of what Kid wants to talk about. And that’s why he’s nervous.

“You’re being oddly quiet,” Tsubaki whispers into his ear as he passes his controller off to her. “Is everything okay?” Leaning back on the couch, Black☆Star shrugs defeatedly. 

“We’ll see,” he replies. Tsubaki looks at him, a small frown on her face, and she blinks once in confusion. Then she turns back to the television, adjusting the controller in her hands and readying herself to play. Black☆Star lets out a breath of relief, thankful that she’d just let it go. 

A few more hours of jerking around pass by, and Black☆Star finds himself almost forgetting about the nerves bundled inside his chest. 

Then the night comes to an end, and with pure dread, he remembers. 

He and Tsubaki exit the apartment at the same time as Kid, Liz, and Patty, saying goodbye to Maka and Soul as they go. Tsubaki is having a conversation with the other two weapons, and Black☆Star is pretending he’s listening, even though his mind is elsewhere, thinking about — 

“Black☆Star.” His stomach flips as he turns to face the person who’s said his name, the person he’s been dreading talking to for the majority of the night. 

“Kid,” he says stiffly. “You, uh, you said you wanted to talk?” 

“Yes,” Kid replies. His face is unreadable as he gestures for Black☆Star to follow him off to the side of the apartment, away from where their weapons are chatting with one another. Once his back is turned, Black☆Star swallows thickly. 

“So... what did you wanna talk about?” he asks once they’ve entered a neighboring alley, attempting to appear nonchalant, even though he’s anything but. Kid turns to face him, expression still impassable. Although, if Black☆Star squints against the darkness of the alley, he thinks Kid’s cheeks might be just a touch pinker than usual. 

“Today in class,” Kid says simply. He slips his hands into his pockets, and Black☆Star frowns, folding his arms. 

“What about it?” he replies defensively, firmly holding Kid’s gaze. 

“Why did you do that?” Kid asks. 

“Do what?” Black☆Star counters, feigning ignorance. 

“Hold my hand.” Black☆Star feels his face flush as the words leave Kid’s mouth. 

“Oh. That,” he mutters, glancing briefly away from the boy in front of him. 

“Why did you do that?” Kid asks again, more insistent this time.

Okay. Alright. This is good. Right now, Black☆Star has the opportunity to do damage control on the situation. The thing is, he’s not sure how, or even if he needs to do damage control at all. Kid’s expression is relentlessly blank, and Black☆Star can’t tell what he’s thinking. 

What should he say? He really doesn’t know. There are so many possibilities. A quick _it was a joke!_ or a _no homo bro!_ is all it would take. Truthfully, a lie might be the better option. Or — 

Or he could be honest. 

“Well, my plan was to kiss you, but Tsubaki said that would be too much,” he says without thinking any more about it. Go big or go home, y’know? Like he’d originally told Tsubaki, he’s a bold person. Might as well put all his cards on the table; he’s dug himself into this hole, so he’s going to lie in it. Holes can be comfy sometimes.

Kid’s face reddens in an instant, his eyes going wide as shock becomes evident on his face. 

“You — what — you — you — _...what?!”_ Kid stammers. Black☆Star doubles down. This hole is getting _deep._

“Yeah. I wanted to kiss you, but Tsubaki convinced me to try something else first,” he explains, watching Kid’s hands twitch at his sides as the reaper’s cheeks grow progressively redder. “So I went with the hand-holding.”

“I-I see,” Kid says, his face beet-red. When he doesn’t elaborate, Black☆Star shrugs, trying to seem casual, trying to pretend like he isn’t on the verge of having a heart attack. 

“It’s no big deal,” he says, turning and beginning to exit the alley. This conversation needs to end ASAP, before things can get even weirder and more uncomfortable. “See ya tomorrow.” 

As he walks away, mind reeling and stomach churning, Kid speaks up. 

“...You could have kissed me, you know,” Kid says quietly. Black☆Star stops dead in his tracks, whipping around to look at Kid, whose eyes are trained on the ground, his face still flushed. 

“Huh?” he responds dumbly, unsure if he’s heard correctly. 

“I said you could have kissed me,” Kid repeats, a bit louder and more confident this time. “I would have let you.”

Black☆Star is floored. All he can do is stare at Kid in shock, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. It looks like he had heard correctly after all. His chest swells with an emotion he’s never felt before. 

Kid wants to kiss him. Kid wants to _kiss him._

“Then... then... can I kiss you right now?” he asks, heart hammering viciously in his chest. Kid nods stiffly, and aw, he’s nervous, isn’t he? Though, to be fair, Black☆Star isn’t too different — in fact, he feels as though his heart might burst if it beats any faster, and his palms are sweating so profusely he’s wondering if he’ll ever be able to hold anything ever again.

Forcing himself to move from his panic-stricken state of paralysis, he takes a step closer to Kid, unsure of how exactly to do this. Kid is a decent handful of inches taller than him, so... is Black☆Star going to have to stand on his tiptoes in order to reach? Urgh. No way. No way is he going to do that. That’s so dumb. 

Instead he reaches out, taking Kid by the front of his shirt and pulling him down so that they’re nose-to-nose. 

This close, he can see the detailed patterns in Kid’s irises, can feel the other boy’s breath ghosting over his lips. Their gazes are locked, and Black☆Star can feel the tension between them growing tauter with every moment that ticks past. He needs to move, to do something — yet he’s frozen, peering deeply into Kid’s eyes, lost in the way they’re flitting around nervously.

Should he wait for Kid to close the gap? Just to make sure that he really wants this?

No. Fuck that noise. Black☆Star waits for no man.

With steeled resolve, he lurches forward, clumsily pressing his lips to Kid’s. 

And the feeling is like fireworks. No, that’s not quite right. It feels more like an entire fireworks factory has been set ablaze, in turn sending thousands upon thousands of fireworks rocketing into the sky. That’s a more apt description. 

Something about the way Kid’s mouth molds to his is just... right. The coolness of Kid’s lips, the way Black☆Star can feel the tension leave the other boy’s shoulders once they connect. It’s amazing. It’s perfect. It makes Black☆Star feel alive with adrenaline.

When Kid’s hands come up to rest on his shoulders, gentle and tentative, Black☆Star’s heart melts. He releases Kid’s collar, trailing his hands along his neck to tenderly cup his jaw, thumbs ghosting over the soft skin of his cheeks. 

They break apart slowly, still gingerly holding on to one another. The expression on Kid’s face is one of wonder, and his lips quirk up in a small, adorable, perfect smile. Black☆Star grins back like an absolute moron, completely, totally, one-hundred percent smitten. 

If falling in love is for idiots, then Black☆Star might just be the dumbest motherfucker on the planet. But, y’know what? He’s pretty okay with that.


End file.
